http://english.pravda.ru/society/family/30-07-2008/105932-surrogate_mother-0
Poland to open its first-ever baby store selling human babies at 22,000 dollars
30.07.2008
The opening of the center for surrogate mothers in Poland has sparked
controversy. The Catholic Church stands strong against the initiative, although
many Polish citizens support the opening of the first-ever center in the
country. The center has already released the price list for its services and
even obtained its first clients, the Noviye Izvestia newspaper reports.
Thirty-seven women have already addressed to the center offering their
healthy bodies to help those who cannot enjoy the happiness of biological
parenthood. Specialists of the center pay first priority to addresses of
surrogate mothers and infertile couples so that a surrogate mother would not
come across her child in the streets afterwards.
The price list of the center says that the price of child-bearing will
fluctuate between 15,000 and 22,500 US dollars. The list also says that the
prices of happy parenthood are negotiable.
Surrogate mothers are obliged to undergo a series of profound medical
examinations, which include tests for genetic diseases. In addition, the women
will have to provide special medical certificates to prove that none of their
relatives suffer from any genetic diseases either. To crown it all, they
undertake not to drink alcohol or smoke tobacco during pregnancy.
Potential parents in their turn must guarantee that they will adopt a
baby in any case, whether it is born as a healthy baby or not. A surrogate
mother also undertakes not to have any claims after the birth of a baby: a
woman signs a 70,000-dollar promissory note which is deposited at the center
until the baby is delivered to adoptive parents.
Surrogate motherhood has become a subject of vivid discussions in Poland
recently. Recent opinion polls conducted in the country showed that the
majority of the Poles approve the initiative, although the Catholic Church
vehemently opposes it. Clergymen believe that it is not a surrogate mother, but
God, whom childless people need to address with prayers.
Organizers of the center say that they decided to take up the initiative
because of the serious demographic situation in Poland. To make matters worse,
about 1.5 million Polish families cannot have children.
The parliament of Poland does not seem to be able to pass the law about
artificial fertilization, hesitating between the official stance of the
Roman-Catholic Church and the need to help citizens of Poland.
Having another woman bear a child for a couple to raise, usually with the
male half of the couple as the genetic father, is referred to in antiquity. For
example, chapter 16 of the book of Genesis relates the story of Sarah's servant
Hagar bearing a child to Abraham for Sarah and Abraham to raise.
Attorney Noel Keane is generally recognized as the creator of the legal
idea of surrogate motherhood. However, it was not until he developed an
association with physician Warren J. Ringold in the city of Dearborn, Michigan
that the idea became feasible. Dr. Ringold agreed to perform all of the
artificial inseminations, and the clinic grew rapidly in the early part of
1981. Though Keane and Ringold were widely criticized by some members of the
press and politicians, they continued and eventually advocated for the passage
of laws that protected the idea of surrogate motherhood. Bill Handel, who is a
partner in a Los Angeles, Surrogacy firms, also attempted to have such laws
passed in California, but his attempts were struck down in the State Congress.
Presently, the idea of surrogate motherhood has gained some societal acceptance
and laws protecting the contractual arrangements exist in eight states.
In the United States, the issue of surrogacy was widely publicized in the
case of Baby M, in which the surrogate and biological mother of Melissa Stern
("Baby M"), born in 1986, refused to cede custody of Melissa to the couple with
whom she had made the surrogacy agreement. The courts of New Jersey eventually
awarded custody to Melissa's biological father William Stern and his wife
Elizabeth Stern, rather than to the surrogate Mary Beth Whitehead.
Compensated surrogacy arrangements are illegal in Washington, Michigan,
Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and New York. Additionally, four states in the US
have held that such contracts, while not illegal, are unenforceable. California
is widely recognized as one of the friendliest jurisdictions for parties
desiring to enter into a surrogacy arrangement. There are many states at the
present time that issue pre-birth orders placing the correct parent names on
the baby's birth certificate.
Compensated surrogacy is legal in Oregon, Texas and Arkansas. Texas
requires the surrogate mother to be a resident of Texas. Arkansas does not
require surrogates to be residents. Intended parents and surrogates resident in
any state of the USA can enter into a legal surrogacy arrangement in Arkansas.
Provided the child is born in Arkansas and that financial considerations are
dispensed from Arkansas the contract will be recognized by Arkansas courts and
upheld.
Fertility treatment in Texas and Arkansas is a fraction of the cost in
California. California is the US state closest for infertile couples from
Europe and Australia who wish to enter into third party reproduction
arrangements to travel.
